Those in the welding industry particularly and other industries such as plumbing and heating generally, often use bottled gases in the performance of their occupation. These gases are typically stored in pressurized cylinders which can sometimes exceed a weight of 200 pounds, making them difficult and dangerous to lift and to transport, particularly to lift and transport overhead by means of an overhead crane.
Various cylinder lifters are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,104,130 discloses a cage adapted to support and retain a pressurized, gas-filled tank while it is carried in a vertical orientation by a crane hook. To prevent the tank from slipping out of the cage while being transported, this cage has a locking ring slidable on the cage and adapted to slip over the neck of the tank and hold the top of the tank in the cage. The bottom of the tank is retained in the cage by a separate semi-cylindrical ring. There is a difficulty with this particular tank holding cage because in order to load the tank into the cage, the full weight of the tank must be vertically lifted and the tank physically inserted into the cage.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,486,044 and 4,294,481 both disclose devices for supporting and transporting gas-filled cylinders while retained in a cage. Like the '130 patent, those cylinders are loaded in the cage only by vertically lifting and physically inserting the cylinders therein, a definite disadvantage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,756 discloses a hoisting cage for hoisting concrete and building material, having one open side to the cage. This hoisting cage has no way of safely securing its contents or preventing them from falling out of the open side, except for the mere use of a chain extending across the open side.
It will be appreciated that it is desirable for a cylinder lifter to be able to secure the cylinder safely within its cage, reducing the chance of the cylinder falling out while being transported. A falling, gas-filled pressurized cylinder can be very dangerous to those below.
It ,will also be appreciated that it is desirable for a cylinder lifter to be able to receive a cylinder without a person or machine having to physically vertically lift and insert the cylinder into the cage of the lifter. The gas-filled pressurized cylinders are quite heavy and, if lifted manually, may result in bodily injury to a person who lifts the gas-filled cylinders into the cage of a cylinder lifter. And if the cylinder is lifted and inserted mechanically into the lifter, additional machinery is required resulting in additional equipment costs.
Accordingly, it has been one objective of the present invention to provide an easy-to-use cylinder receiver and lifter for receiving a cylinder without the cylinder having to be vertically lifted and manually inserted into the cylinder lifter.
Another objective of the present invention has been to provide an improved and easy to use cylinder lifter that is relatively inexpensive and yet which secures the gas-filled cylinder in a holder which may safely be transported by an overhead crane without any danger of the cylinder falling out of the holder during transportation or movement by the crane.